Vintage Vs. Modern Bass Gear: My Happy Medium

Are you drawn to vintage instruments, amps,
and accessories that have stood the test of time, like 1960s Fender basses,
Ampeg flip-top amps, and vintage Mu-Tron pedals? Or do your eyes light up at
the mention of the latest tech: fanned frets, ultra-lightweight amps, and
pedals packing more processing power than the space shuttle?

I’ve talked to bassists whose taste in gear
is directly related to their age, and specifically, they really like either the
instrument they played in high school or the instrument that they couldn’t
afford in high school. Others are excited about the advances in technology that
let them use smaller, lighter amplifiers that are louder than the workhorses
from their youth, the new materials and electronics used in contemporary basses,
and the vast range of sounds available with the current generation of bass
effects and processors.

I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the old/new spectrum; I just purchased (from Sweetwater, of course) a Fender American Original ’60s Jazz Bass. The bass has a vintage vibe without the vintage price or age-related issues that can accompany a 60-year-old instrument. On the other hand, I’ll happily grab a 5-string Fodera Emperor when it’s the right bass for a project I’m working on. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to play Ampeg’s 50th Anniversary SVT on a gig, yet I’m more likely to use an Aguilar AG 700 with an SL 112 more often because it sounds great — and I can carry the amp, the cabinet, and my bass into the venue in one trip. While I wish I hadn’t sold my Mu-Tron Phasor II and Envelope III back in the 1970s, I’m not using much in the way of effects these days. They would be cool to have, but they wouldn’t be used much. And while I still have (and use) some old gear, most of it should be categorized as “used” rather than “vintage.”

We want gear for one of three reasons: to
make us sound better, to make us play better, or to make us feel better. If I
can find something that does all three, then it’s definitely a win! When it’s a
new piece of gear with a vintage vibe, I feel like I’ve found a happy medium
between old gear and new.
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